The Spaces Inbetween
by Ultrawoman
Summary: There was more than one reason why Cassie, Jake, and Ezekiel couldn't work alone together. Chief among them is something Ezekiel sees very clearly, but the other two have been trying to deny - a growing attraction between Cassie and Jake that they really need to face up to, and in Ezekiel's opinion, it has to be now! (AU Season 2, Episode 1)


**A/N: I wrote this quite a while ago, almost posted it, then gave real consideration to continuing on and making it a longer story that covered more or maybe even all of Season 2. I'm not so sure I want to do that now, and if I do, it can'be now as I don't have the time or inclination, so for now, this is a one-shot. I hope anyone who reads it enjoys it :)**

 _ **(Disclaimer: All recognisable characters from The Librarians belong to Dean Devlin, John Rogers, TNT, and other folks who aren't me.)**_

The Spaces Inbetween

It was inevitable that at some point they were going to get into a fight about why they stopped working together. Jake hadn't expected it to happen now, in the middle of whatever the hell was happening at the the Museum of History in Manhattan, but apparently this was it, the big blow out that had been bubbling under the surface too long. It was strange that it hadn't happened at the time they broke apart, but they really had gone out with a whimper rather than a bang. Jones had gone off to do his own thing, without any real explanation as to why, and so Cassie and Jake just parted ways because it seemed like the thing to do.

Ezekiel maintained the main problem was Jake ordering him around, and more so that when there was a fight Cassie took Jake's side. She denied it, of course she did, because it wasn't true. She just wanted to stop the fighting, a fact she was reiterating now. The problem was, when Cassadnra thought on it, even for a minute, she knew Ezekiel had a point. She didn't like that he did, but it was the truth.

"Blame it on her again? Man, that's the whole thing..." Jake was saying.

Ezekiel talked right over him. "No, I'm not blaming her. I'm blaming both of you..."

"You never take responsibility for your own-"

"Guys, guys, guys!" Cassandra cut through both of their rants. "We're doing it again," she told them sadly. "We worked so well together at the Library. Why couldn't we do it when we were on our own?"

Jake looked to Cassie and she looked right on back. There was something there, a reason, a similar thought in both their brains and yet neither was willing to admit it. Maybe the problem wasn't so much that they were out on their own, it was being out there together, and yet not alone together. They both liked Ezekiel well enough, though Jake would deny such a thing to his dying day. The truth was, maybe if it were just him and Cassie, then maybe Jake would have been brave enough to tell her what had been on his mind for months now. When he walked into this room today, asking her for the densities of materials, he meant what he said about her being faster than the internet. The compliment came easy because of the truth of it, and yet he withheld the truth on other things that should be said. The moment Cassie flashed him one of those shy but winning smiles, he got all turned around, realised what he was doing and almost backed the hell up. Maybe he could have worked up the nerve to say something, anything, but then Jones walked in, just like always, and the moment was lost.

There was no way Jacob could have known that Cassandra was thinking almost the exact same thing right now, but the other person in the room could see it a mile away.

"Oh, come on!" exclaimed Ezekiel, clearly full of frustration that had now reached boiling point. "This is genuinely insane!" he told his fellow Librarians even as they both looked at him like he had three heads.

"I don't understand," said Cassie, something she rarely had to admit.

Jake looked just as blank, but Ezekiel wasn't buying it.

"You're not stupid people!" he told them, as if they didn't know. "Technically, you're both infinitely smarter than I am, and yet you can't see what the problem is here? It's staring you right in the face!"

To make his point even clearer, Ezekiel walked around the table, grabbing Stone from behind and turning him through a hundred and eighty degrees so he was facing Cassie again. Then he moved on to Cassie herself and physically turned her head (gently) until she was looking right at Jake. Their eyes met for all of two seconds and then they both shied away.

"There! Right there, that's your problem!" Ezekiel told them again. "You can't face each other," he said, then shook his head. "No, strike that, that's not even it, you can't face up to what you _feel_ for each other. And y'know what? I kind of hate you for making me be the one to go all Dr Phil and make you see what is so damn obvious to everybody else. You like each other. Pretty sure you've liked each other a lot since Day One, but then Cassandra betrayed us and Stone hid behind his trust issues, so everything got weird and awkward. I thought when we went out on our own it'd get better, that you'd be left alone enough to figure things out. Hell, I actually left the two of you alone on purpose to make it happen, and still nothing! Well, I'm done being subtle. This is it. You two need to figure out what is going on between you. For the good of the team, mates!" he said definitely.

Jake glanced from him to Cassie, who looked much like he felt - as if it might be nice to have the floor open up and swallow them already just to get away from this very awkward moment. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to go right now. Jones was out the door, muttering something about the Italian and her earrings. For maybe the first time since this whole Librarians team started, at the very least since that moment on the balcony of the Library way back in the beginning, Cassie and Jake had to face up to each other and what they were feeling.

"He's right, isn't he?" she said uncertainly. "I mean, I know you and Jones don't always get along and maybe you don't want to admit that he's right about anything but-"

"He's right," he cut in before her ramble got out of hand. "About... Everything he said about..." Jake nodded, making some random gesture between himself and Cassie.

There was no use in denying it anymore, not for any reason. In fact, they were fools for having sat on this for so long without a word said. The truth had to out in the end and now was as good a time as any. Cassandra seemed willing, so he guessed he ought to be too.

"I... I just kept thinking," she said, fingers twisting together in front of her, "as much as we got along, as nice as you always were to me, you didn't trust me. It was there in my head, it's always there, like a flashing beacon. 'Jacob doesn't trust me, I screwed up, he can't ever', and if you can't trust me then you can't like me-"

"You know I like ya, Cassie," he told her fast. "I told ya that."

"Yes, you like me," she agreed, rolling her eyes, "but I... I meant more than that. What Ezekiel was saying, about how we like each other," she explained, gesturing towards the door through which Jones had left moments before. "You can't feel that way about me."

"Really? You think I can't?" said Jake with a look. "Well, here's a funny thing, I didn't think I could either, or at least, I figured I shouldn't, but the truth is, Cassie, and I... I don't know how in the hell it happened, but I just, I can't help it," he said, arms spread wide in defeat. "I can't, I can't help it. I like ya, a lot, and yeah, Ezekiel has it exactly right. I've been avoidin' tellin' ya. I don't mind admitting, I had no idea how to get into this with you or if I should."

"You think it was any easier for me?" she countered, just a little mad that he was making this all about him. "Jake, I've never... I've never had anyone treat me the way you do. When I talk, you look at me like it matters, even if I know you don't understand the meaning of what I'm actually saying. If anything happens, you're the first one to ask if I'm okay. You're my anchor when my mind gets away from me, you've helped me so much with that, I can't even tell you," explained Cassandra, barely noticing how much she was making him smile with her words that just kept on coming. "I hated when we split up after Peru. I threw myself into the math and the science, not just because I love it, which you know I do, but because... because it was easier than thinking about how much I missed you."

She met his eyes then, all that she was feeling shining brightly as Jake stared back at her. Of course he understood, because this was exactly what he had been feeling too. He missed the hell out of her when they parted ways. Sure, he missed Eve and Flynn when they went out on their own, and even Jones to a certain degree, but Cassie was always on his mind, in a very different way. There was no way not to realise what that meant, as if he hadn't already known very well how she made him feel.

"Cassie..." he began to say, but an alarm sounding caught both their attention.

They were in the middle of a mission, and that had to come first. There was a chess set to recover, a storm to figure out, and as yet they had no idea if and how all their separate tasks fitted together. As much as Jake and Cassie would love to talk about what was between them, now probably wasn't the time.

"I guess we'll pick this up later?" she suggested.

Jake nodded, knowing there was no choice and turned towards the exit. From the door, he looked back. Cassie was facing her screens again, taking in a deep breath and letting it out so she could concentrate. She had no idea Jake was still in the room, not until he was right behind her, his hand at her wrist. In one swift moment that even she couldn't calculate, he spun her around into his arms and kissed her. Whatever he intended in that moment, Cassandra wasn't letting it end too soon. Her arms went up around Jake's neck, holding him close as the kiss went on and on. When they finally parted, she found him smiling.

"We're definitely gonna pick this up later," he told her, making her grin too.

"Count on it."

* * *

The truth was that he had come looking for her. He hoped to catch her alone, but Jake never did seem to be that lucky lately. Cassie was with Jones, apparently the two of them were headed out to the museum together for better data, but the moment they realised that Jake was pretty much dressed up in tin foil, they stopped caring about anything else. Ezekiel looked curious, but Cassie, she looked worried, most especially when Jake had to explain what was going on.

"Jenkins and I gotta open the door and, er, let in the sunbeam, so... It's gonna get a little hot."

Out of the corner of his vision, he saw Ezekiel shake his head and slip away. The thief was a pain in the ass a not small part of the time, but he knew timing, Jake would give him that much.

"You'll be careful," said Cassie, staring right at him.

It was a statement, not a question, because she simply was not giving Jake a choice on this one. He had to be careful. He had to be okay. There was no second option.

Jake smiled. "Hey, this is... it's fine. It's not gonna kill me," he told her, even if he wasn't entirely sure he knew that for certain.

"No, it's not fine. It's not okay," said Cassie desperately, tears starting to make her eyes turn glassy. "I... I hate that we didn't get a chance to talk, that we didn't take all the chances before and just went our separate ways."

"It happens."

"No, it doesn't. Not to us. It's not happening."

Before he had a chance to argue any more, she came barrelling towards him. Cassie's arms locked tight around Jake as she kissed him like it was going out of style. If the worst should happen, she was at least going to have this moment, and then pray real hard that it wasn't the one one she ever got.

When she pulled back a moment later, Jake had his hand at her cheek. He moved to push her hair back over her shoulder and found her a smile.

"I'll see you on the other side, Cassie," he promised in a whisper.

"You better," she said definitely.

"All right." He nodded once. "Let's go save the day."

They had to part, but it was a wrench to do so. She had a hold of his hand even as he walked away, both of their arms at full stretch before their fingers finally fell away from each other's grip. He had to go, this time it wasn't a choice, but they would be back together again soon. This wasn't over.

* * *

"You did it!" Cassie exclaimed happily as she came back through the door into the annex.

"Actually, _we_ did it," Jake corrected her, but was smiling just the same.

So joyful was she in that moment, it didn't seem to occur to Cassie that they had company. She bodily threw herself into Jake's arms in front of everyone and he happily hugged her tight. Unfortunately, putting his hand on her back made it hurt like crazy and she couldn't miss the hiss of pain he made in her ear.

"What happened?" she asked, pulling back to see.

A squeak of shock escaped when she saw the burn marks across Jake's hand and wrist. It was red raw and had to be very painful.

"I wasn't thinkin'," he admitted. "Put my hand on the suit... It's fine," he assured her.

"It's not fine," Cassie insisted. "First aid box, come on," she said, carefully picking up his non-injured hand and leading him away.

"Er, we have to make a plan here!" Eve called behind them.

"We'll be back!" promised Cassie, focused as ever on the task at hand.

Like a real professional care giver, she sat Jake down in a seat and fetched the first aid supplies. Kneeling down in front of him she carefully laid his hand out flat and with the lightest of touches began applying gauze and bandage to his wound.

"I coulda done this myself," he told her, smiling still as he watched her work. "Not that I mind the help."

"We're a team," she said simply. "I care."

"Kinda got that impression from the way you kissed me before"

"I could say the same," she countered, though she didn't look up from her task at all. "I guess we're still not going to get that talk yet. Eve seemed pretty set on a meeting and a plan being made."

"Always somethin' goin' on," said Jake regretfully. "I guess maybe that was always some of the problem."

"Some, sure," Cassie agreed. "But hey, at least we're both on the same page now, right?" she said, glancing up the moment she was done fastening the bandage to Jake's hand.

"I like to think so," he agreed, his good hand coming up to her face. "You're amazing, Cassandra Cillian. I ever tell you that?"

"Not in so many words," she admitted. "But you're pretty amazing yourself, Jacob Stone."

There was a moment when they both seemed to consider marking this moment with another kiss, but it never happened. If they started they might not think to stop and the others were waiting on them. Besides, all that needed to be said and done had been for today. As Cassie had noted, they were both in the same place now, they both knew where they stood. From here it was all going to work out, it was just going to take a little more time. That was the one thing they didn't have right this minute.

"C'mon," he said, taking her hand in his good one and getting up.

They walked out to the meeting together, Cassie's grip tightening on Jake's hand as they went. This wasn't over, it was just beginning. Knowing that was the reason she could not keep the smile off her face. Still, as they reached the main room, she let go. With everything else going on, with things still so undefined between the two of them, it was easier not to have the others ask questions just yet.

Jake took a seat, and on her way to doing the same, Cassie stopped to hug Ezekiel from behind. He turned on his chair to look and smiled widely at her. This wasn't just a manoeuvre to make the others think she was all for embracing everybody. This was 'thank you'.

"I was right, wasn't I?" he said quietly, knowing from her expression alone that she agreed. "I knew it!"

Cassie giggled. She never had a little brother, but she figured this was probably how it would be. Glancing at Jake, she moved to take her seat in front of him just as Flynn started to talk about Prospero's plans and what their next move should be. Cassie never had a real boyfriend either, and there was a hundred and one reasons why it was probably a bad idea, chief amongst them the tumour in her head. No, they would cross that bridge when they came to it, and now wasn't the time. For now she was listening, planning, and being just a little distracted knowing Jake was right there behind her, probably smiling just as widely as she was.

The End?

 **A/N2: If you have any comments on this story, I would really appreciate your feedback in a review. I'm still new to The Librarians fandom and writing fic for the show so I need all the help I can get! Also, if you think you might like to read more of this, let me know that too, because there's still a possibility of me writing further chapters at some point in the future, if anyone actually wants to read it :)**


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